[ SECRET POST #3685 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3685 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #527.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt but to give your comment a seriousness it doesn't really deserve, I agree that Victor and Yuri probably didn't explicitly talk about the being engagement rings, and Victor may have been teasing - we don't know - but to try to pan this relationship as anything other than romantic is absolutely deluded. They did kiss, after all. Their relationship was on-screen romantic whether or not they planned to get married.

[(Anonymous)]

Different anon, but based on the way the way the creators and characters talked on the show, I feel like there was a major effort to skirt around the romantic-ness and to focus on "love" in a rather nebulous way. This can be seen in how Viktor asked Yuuri to be his lover initially and Yuuri said, "No, I just want you to be yourself." And then during Yuuri's one speech, he talked about his love wasn't really romantic. There was never anything in this show that like...tried to change this status quo. I mean, yeah, there's the kiss, but there was no discussion or explicit re-defining of their relationship. Also, IIRC, I remember Kubo or maybe it was someone else who worked on the show talking about Yuuri and Viktor's love transcending the romantic or something like that.

I mean, I'm not "anti-Yuri on Ice" or what have you. I genuinely enjoyed the show, but the way Viktor and Yuuri's relationship was handled was rather roundabout and oblique in many ways.

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt I agree it was roundabout and that "skating" was frequently invoked metaphorically for romance, i.e. the engagement scene, they're talking about proving love through skating, etc. But I don't think that negates the fact that it's a romantic relationship.

I would say in regards to Yuri's dialogue, Yuri's character is more easily rattled and embarrassed than Victor's. I assume when Victor offers to act as his lover and Yuri says he wants him to be himself, it's not him rejecting him romantically but just telling Victor he doesn't need to play a role, he wants to get to know the real him. As I recall, his lines about the love not being romantic but a transcendental love is also early on in the anime. I agree though that the result of these awkward lines is the potential for plausible deniability - the argument that the relationship wasn't sexual or it's "not canon". But the thing is, whether or not their relationship is romantic isn't even a matter of theories and possibilities. The relationship is clearly canonically romantic. Yuri's Eros dance focusing on Victor basically from the start is pretty clear of that. It's not just skating being used as a metaphor for love, it's canon that Yuri is skating for his love of Victor; he says as much. Plus the kiss scene (obscured or not) and the exchanging of rings deliberately mirroring engagement, if not a literal engagement? The canon intentionally romanticizes the pair. If the pair was heterosexual, no one would for a moment think otherwise.

I agree that I would've preferred their romance to be explicitly stated or shown, and I agree it felt half-assed that they didn't. But I don't think that's a requirement for it to be clearly part of the canon narrative. I don't think there's a convincing way to argue they are non-romantic.

[(Anonymous)]

If the pair was heterosexual, no one would for a moment think otherwise

Bolding this because that's exactly my beef with the "THEY'RE NOT CANON" crowd. Actual Japanese natives have stated multiple times on this topic on Twitter that this is actually pretty in line with most romantic portrayals outside of the romance genre.

[(Anonymous)]

There is no such thing as hetbait anime, but there are fujoshibait anime and yuribait anime. Not the same.

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt but that's the point. You would never accuse a het pairing of being "bait", but you'll accuse and reduce same-sex pairings to "bait".

[(Anonymous)]

But some are used as bait, that's an undeniable fact. Aoi Hana, not bait. Cross Ange, bait.

[(Anonymous)]

Give it up. The anon you're talking to gets off on moving the goalpost any time her pearl clutching "exploitation" screeching starts crumbling.

[(Anonymous)]

"her"

Go fuck yourself.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah sure, sorry, which made up pronoun do you wish to be addressed with today?

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, I'm not going to entertain this troll anymore. Please fuck off and never come back.